I received quite a shock from my doctor this month. Apparently I've been allergic to far more foods than I ever thought - well, actually I never really considered myself to have food allergies at all. But I've been told that I'm allergic to corn, milk, wheat, soy, peanuts, seasame seeds and walnuts. What a list! It seems that all of the food I've been eating my entire life has been affecting me negatively and I never made the connection. That's some serious denial.
So now I'm trying to cut out all those foods from my diet, but it's definitely hard-going. Corn is in everything, and so is wheat. I tried out a brown rice loaf bread - GROSS!! For someone who is so in love with food, this could have been devastating. But, sitting at the table writing this and eating what could very well be called the best meal I've had in ages, I have to admit that I could easily get used to it.
On tonight's menu is ribeye steak and lightly steamed broccoli. Sounds pretty simple, right? Well, it actually is. I have avoided broccoli for so long - so many bad experiences from chinese take-out. But I used to consume this power veggie all the time when I was a child. My favorite preparation was raw, dipped in a bit of ranch dressing. Second to that, broccoli with cheese sauce. I'm going to avoid both preparations now that I'm an adult, but tonight I have definitely re-discovered my love for broccoli. My dietitian has stressed the need to eat broccoli raw or lightly steamed. So when I started dinner tonight, I put two tablespoons of water in the bottom of a skillet, added several cloves of garlic, a salt-free all-purpose seasoning, a half teaspoon of olive oil and the broccoli. I covered the skillet and steamed the veggies until they were a bright green. That's it! I took them off the stove. This was an amazing preparation, I'm very much looking forward to repeating it tomorrow! I paired this meal with a glass of Sweet Red from Barefoot.
The ribeye was good too. I used a Montreal steak rub and simply pan-fried it to medium done-ness. Ribeye is my favorite cut of steak. I haven't had steak since the early summer (not big on red meat) but it was well worth the hiatus. I only had half of the steak - the other half I will find a use for tomorrow.
In general, I can say that today's meals were all very good. For brunch I had stewed chicken with okra over brown rice. In a nutshell, I took my summer veggie dish and substituted the corn for roasted chicken breast cut into pieces. It was quite tasty; I hardly missed the corn! Afternoon snack was a small portion of rice salad: brown rice mixed with smoked herring, green peas and golden raisins. Filling and well-balanced.
I feel like I'm off to a good start. But I keep looking longingly at bakeries, and cereal, and pretty much everything in the inner aisles of the grocery store. I feel like I did well today, but the fight continues to kick the simple carb habit. Gluten-free cookies just don't cut it. Here's hoping that absence with make the heart forget.
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